[Mike Nolan]

I've been cutting back on how much onion I use when cooking, because my wife is concerned that her garlic allergy might develop into an allergy to the entire allium genus, including onions and leeks.

[Mike Nolan]

I made Vienna bread today, 2 loaves, cut both in half and froze 3 halves, should keep me in Vienna bread for a week or more.

[Mike Nolan]

I made banana nut muffins Monday night, and updated my recipe a little, adding some details and updating the yield.

[Mike Nolan]

It depends somewhat on the recipe (some recipes don't rise very much), but the general rule is to fill a pan between 2/3 and 3/4 full. I've found with some pans you can't trust what the maker says the capacity is, so I measure it with water.

I fill cupcakes to the 3/4 point, because I like a rounded top above the top of the pan or cupcake liner.

[Mike Nolan]

I prefer to add a little heavy cream if I have it (otherwise milk) to scrambled eggs, at the end so it stops the eggs from cooking further.

[Mike Nolan]

We've had a Meyer lemon tree for a number of years, though it's not doing well at the moment, having lost most of its leaves. Still has two small lemons on it, though. 3 years ago we got over a dozen Meyer lemons, much smaller than the ones Mrs. Cindy was sending out, though.

For a while we kept it in the kitchen window, which faces north, but it wasn't getting enough light there in the winter, so we moved it upstairs to a southern facing window.

I'm looking to replace it with a new one, probably next spring. I've been trying to get our local nursery to order one, but the owner seems reluctant to do that, so I'll probably just order one from Monrovia.

[Mike Nolan]

I made spaghetti squash with marinara and meatballs last night. This spaghetti squash was tastier than the last one I did, not sure if it was a function of ripeness and how well cooked it was, or if we're just getting used to the taste of spaghetti squash.

[Mike Nolan]

Your participation is not only quite welcome, it is very much appreciated.

[Mike Nolan]

Stopped at the local Costco yesterday, a 16 ounce bottle of vanilla extract (no brand name but packaged for Costco) was $26.99.

They also had unbleached organic AP flour in 10 pound bags as well as much larger bags of bleached AP flour.

[Mike Nolan]

You make muffins from a box?? Oh the Shame of it all! Where did we go wrong?

I'd sentence you to 3 lashes with a wet noodle, but you'd have to make noodles. 🙂

Seriously, though, glad you enjoyed what you made.

[Mike Nolan]

I think it's the first topic that really needed to be split, so I had to figure out what the tools were to do that. Not too bad, but not something I'd want to do every day.

[Mike Nolan]

Admin note: I split the discussion about mice off from the one about cooking Cinderella pumpkins.

[Mike Nolan]

Admin note: I split the stuff about catching mice off from the Cinderella pumpkin thread.

I prefer the older style Victor traps, with the metal trigger, over than the plastic ones, but both seem to work fairly well here. I alternate which I use, because mice seem to learn how to avoid one, so I switch for a few weeks.

I tried the glue ones, a strong mouse just bounces around until he frees himself.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.

[Mike Nolan]

I'll check on the vanilla the next time I'm at our new Costco, which opened on Saturday and is only a few blocks from us. So far I've not been impressed with their website as a shopping experience, though. (Sams site is much better, IMHO.)

They may not carry the same brand of vanilla at every store, and it might be their house brand, Kirkland.

I know they only carry King Arthur flour in the northeastern US (though KAF uses mills in Kansas, among others), I'm not sure they even carry an 'unbleached' flour here.

[Mike Nolan]

There is no scientific evidence I can find that essential oils keep mice away. Many of the websites that recommend it, surprise, surprise, sell essential oils!

[Author]

Posts